Hydrocarbon spill reported on Thompson Divide

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.—An energy company has reported a spill of hydrocarbons at a natural gas storage complex southwest of Glenwood Springs.

The Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported Wednesday ( http://tinyurl.com/l3xbegf) that SourceGas, a natural gas supply company, notified state officials on June 27 that the spill occurred in the Thompson Divide area.

A report by the company on the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website said the spill was believed to have affected groundwater flowing five to six feet beneath the spill site, which was 1,165 square feet.

The report didn't specify the type or volume of fluids spilled. It indicated the spill was discovered when a building was demolished.

The company's preliminary investigation "suggests the source may have been removed and this is a case of residual contamination," the report said.

SourceGas is still assessing the extent and nature of the spill, including how far underground the hydrocarbons spread and how groundwater was affected, company spokeswoman Natalie Shelbourn said.

Natural gas is stored in wells at the site.

Shelbourn said the storage field was an active drilling field for natural gas in the 1950s and 1960s, and it was converted to storage in the 1970s.

The scenic Thompson Divide area is at the center of a debate over new natural gas drilling.

Opponents of drilling include activist groups and the governments of Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and Pitkin County, where some of the proposed drilling would occur.

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Gov. John Hickenlooper, a former oil and gas geologist, surprised many when he sided with drilling opponents in March.

"That's a beautiful landscape that shouldn't be developed," he said. "I don't know what the (federal Bureau of Land Management) was thinking when they leased that land for two bucks an acre or what they thought the benefit was."